The present invention relates to archery bow hunting and more particularly to a means by which game that has been shot with an arrow can be assuredly found. A problem that hunters have often faced is that, after finally getting that one good shot at a deer or other game, the injured deer or game has run several hundred yards before dropping with the result that the hunter's efforts are wasted because he is unable to locate the animal that he has shot.
It has long been known to attach reels of string to bows with the end of the string secured to the arrow. These arrangements have primarily been utilized for bow and spear fishing, and to a lesser extent as a means for carrying a line or rope to an elevated or inaccessible point. These arrangements for mounting a reel of line to a bow can be substantially characterized by two types. The oldest form for mounting a spool or reel wound with string upon a bow is typified by the arrangements disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 736,051; 2,812,756; 2,904,338; and 3,377,999. In these patents, a spool or reel is mounted to the bow with its longitudinal axis extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the arrow to be shot with the string wound about the spool axis. With such arrangements, when an arrow was shot, the spool did not rotate and the string was caused to feed off the spool by the pull of the arrow.
The second type of arrangement is typified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,614,947; 3,683,882; and 4,024,667. In these patents, conventional winding type fishing reels of the type normally used on a rod for casting a hook are mounted to the bow and the string is fed off upon launching of the arrow in a manner well known for these types of reels.
The prior art reels were not designed and not intended to feed string at the velocities at which an arrow is launched by a high-powered hunting bow, nor to accept the backlash force which occurs when the arrow applies the initial pull to the string after being shot.
The function of the string in a fishing environment is not to locate the arrow, but to retrieve the fish that has been shot by the arrow attached thereto which requires the string to be strong enough to stop and turn a fish of any size as well as draw it close enough to be retrieved from the water. Therefore, these devices utilize a heavy line which coupled with the basic deficiencies of the reels from which they are unwound, impose a great drag effect upon the arrow shot, thereby effecting both the distance and accuracy with which the arrow can be shot.
Still further, since the quarry often run several hundred yards before dropping after being shot with an arrow, a reel of the prior art types would have to be so large and heavy to carry sufficient line that it would render use of the bow awkward and cumbersome.
In this regard, it is noted that the problems of the drag effect and the amount of line required, are not of particularly great significance in the field of bow fishing to which the prior art arrangements are directed, or for that matter, in hunting small game such as rabbits or fowl because such game or fish can be shot as close as 10 yards or a few feet, respectively, and because of the small size of the quarry, they are rarely shot at a distance of 20 yards or more, and the arrow is launched in a downward direction. As a result, the effective range of accuracy of 5 to 10 yards which is obtainable with such devices when aimed in an initially upward trajectory is of no real significance.
On the other hand, larger game such as deer are normally hunted at distances of 20 to 30 yards with the arrow launched in an initially upward trajectory such that the limitations of the prior art devices with respect to the drag imposed upon the arrow make the prior art string and reel arrangements totally unsuitable for use in hunting such quarry.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement whereby string can be carried upon a bow wound in a manner that enables a minimum amount of drag to be imposed to an arrow which is attached thereto in flight.
It is a further object to provide a means to mount extremely long lengths of string upon a bow in a manner that is lightweight and will not interfere with use of the bow.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in a preferred embodiment by the use of specially wound prepackaged string that is merely dropped into a tubular canister that is closed at its ends by closure caps, one of which has a central opening through which the end of the string to be attached to the bow can be fed out of the canister. The canister being of an elongated tubular configuration, is easily mounted to the bow by a leather strap or other bracket member.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a single embodiment in accordance with the present invention.